Study Designs Flashcards Preview

Descriptive Studies

Analytical Studies

Identify associations: Determine if there is an association between an exposure and outcome in a population and how strong the association isThe ultimate goal is to determine if an exposure factor causes the disease

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Characteristics of a good study

Scientifically soundValidPreciseEfficient

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What are the different types of descriptive study designs?

Case ReportsCase SeriesCross-sectional descriptive studies

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What is an analytical experimental study design?

Clinical trials

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What is an analytical observational study design that compares groups of populations?

Ecological

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What is an analytical observational study design that compares groups of Individuals?

Short timelineCan look at multiple risk factors at one time Good for studying rare diseases

What are the disadvantages of Case-control studies?

Cohort Studies

Individual subjects are selected to represent exposure groups

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What are the two types of Cohort Studies?

Prospective cohort studiesRetrospective Cohort Studies

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Prospective cohort study

Forward in time

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Retrospective cohort study

Back in timeSubjects are selected based on their exposure status, then their outcome status is determined from their history, by reviewing records, questionnaires, testing them to determine if they have the outcome

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Advantages of Prospective cohort studies

Establish CausalityMultiple exposures at one timestudy of rare exposures

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Disadvantages of Prospective Cohort Studies

Take a long timedeal with changing study populations Depends upon accurate assessment of exposures and consistent assessment of outcomes over time

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Advantages of Retrospective Cohort studies

Short timeline - disease has already occurred look at multiple exposures at one timestudying rare exposures

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Disadvantages of Retrospective Cohort Studies

Not good for establishing causality Poor selection of controls can invalidate the entire study Depends upon accurate assessment of diseases that happened in the past Recall biasIncomplete clinical records